Conflict Management Style When considering your conflict management style with others, be it; personal or professional, we tend to use the style that seems appropriate to the conflict.
Managing conflict is a difficult task that we all face during our life time, but becoming aware of your own characteristic style could help determine why conflicts result exactly the way they do. It helps determine what is a healthy outcome, or not? Each circumstance is different! Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191). Our behavior or conflict style tells a lot about us as humans. It is an important piece of life’s puzzles, and how we go about living a healthy life. Our particular path decides where conflict will lead to, or if it could be resolved quickly with everyone feeling content. However, our non-verbal behavior could indicate when a person is upset or anoid.This is usually related to unmet needs or goals (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191). I participated in a conflict management style quiz that was created by Reginald Adkins to see what style I followed. The style that I tend to follow is Harmonizing.
Conflict is inevitable in any personal relationship or among members of any group. While we encounter many types of conflict in our lifetime, we often look for ways to avoid conflict. So, why do we run away from dealing with our conflict? It is often because many of us fear the conflict will escalate into a situation we will not be able to sustain. “As conflicts escalate, they go through certain incremental transformations. Although these transformations occur separately on each side, they affect the conflict as a whole because they are usually mirrored by the other side. As a result of these transformations, the conflict is intensified in ways that are sometimes exceedingly difficult to undo” (Pruitt, and Kim 89). We
Whether we like it or not, conflict is a part of everyday lives. It can happen to anyone, from your friends to your family.
Learning to communicate efficiently and manage conflict successfully is challenging. Gaining cooperation between people is complex and mentally demanding. Communication ways and conflict styles are deeply woven into our personalities. Conflict is the expressed struggle of interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, interference from the other party in achieving those goals, and the perception of scarce resources. Perceptions are just as important as reality in regards to conflict. As stated in the text, “we encounter conflict as we compete for acceptance, love, recognition, position, power, success, and many other goals. Judgments of the quality of
This activity will help you determine your natural style for dealing with conflict. It is useful to assess your predominant conflict management style(s) because we all tend to prefer one or two of the styles and at times may apply them inappropriately.
There are different conflict management styles, the dictatorial style, which insists that things are addressed their way and the low self -esteem style, which just allows others to have it their way. It is up to the individual to decide which way works for them. Additionally, the abdicator handles conflict by bowing out or walking away. This method is unhealthy because it robs the offended growth opportunity, which results from working through issues (Pegues, 2009, p.49). Another style is the collaborator, which often involves cooperation and pulling together to reach a common purpose and are emotionally balanced.
My conflict style that I think best describes me is collaborating. I do like to have a conversation after conflict and solve problem, and I like to make a person feels that it it win-win situation. I don't want to have a conflict with someone and keep thinking that he or she thinks bad things about me. So, even when I know the person was wrong, but he or she doesn't not accept the wrong doing. I try to make it win-win-situation just to keep moving without thinking bad thing. In fact, In collaborating style, many potential problems could arise, such as blaming each other, regret after conflict, not agreed
I find that my desire to avoid can put off the wrong vibe to those under my care. The last thing I want people to think of me when it comes to conflict is that I attempt to avoid it at all cost. That can be casted in a negative light. The greatest room for improvement for me in this area is using this style more out of habit than using it when necessary. Since I scored high, there is a good chance I am overusing this style. I have to be more intentional in how I deal with conflict. Though I tend to see conflict as a disruption in the flow and the work at hand and in my opinion it causes unnecessary stress so I only attempt to address it when it is unavoidable. This can hurt my leadership position in a lot of cases and I must learn to use it
How many interpersonal conflicts have you been in today, this week, or even this month? Do you even know which conflict styles you normally use when faced with a disagreement? Furthermore, this analysis shall reflect on my particular conflict styles, with an in-depth look at possible benefits of knowing the conflict styles I tend to incorporate, and how behaviors change based on a relationship and the environment.
In a dispute, it's often easier to describe how others respond then to how we respond. Each of us has a predominant conflict style that we use to meet our own needs. By examining conflict styles and the consequences of those behaviors, we can gain a better understanding of the impact that our personal conflict style has on other people. With a better understanding, you then can make a conscious choice on how to respond to others in a conflict situation to help reduce work conflict and stress.
On a crisp autumn day in 2016, while hidden away from the cares of my daily routine in my family room, I was called upon to elaborate on an important aspect of my life. It took some time for consideration to determine how to best portray a journey I have taken in managing conflict, as I am not a young woman. Decades filled with the blessings of being the mother of disabled children, years lived as a single parent, as well as the process of maturation, tempered by the fires of adversity, have molded me into who I am today. As I reflected, I wondered if would I know how to deal with conflict as I do now without the life experiences I have had? Certainly not! The following paragraphs will describe my primary conflict style and why I use it, how I have changed constructively in this area, how the other four styles of conflict management may serve me, and where I hope to arrive as I continue to make my way along the journey of my life.
There are five conflict-handling styles: Forcing Style, Collaborating Style, Compromising Style, Avoiding Style and Accommodating Style. The compromising style “refers to behaviors at an intermediate level of cooperation and assertiveness. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 392) ” The person using is style tries to meet a goal by give-and-take. The accommodating style “refers to cooperative and unassertive behavior. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 393) ” The person using this style tries to accomplish a goal by using unselfish acts that will promote cooperation in others by complying with their wishes. The collaborating style “refers to high levels of cooperative and assertive behavior. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 391) ” The person using this style is using a win-win approach to working with others and handling conflict. When the CEO of General Hospital, Mike Hammer first attempted to control physician-driven cost he used the collaborating style by trying to convince the Director of
Each person has a characteristic personality. Such a style reflects our unique wants, needs, and values. In conflicts, there are specific global patterns that can be identified that are reflective of how individuals deal with such challenges. These global patterns consist of five approaches to conflict management: Competing, Collaborating, Compromising, Avoiding, and Accommodating.
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) was originally developed by Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann in 1974 (Kilmann, 2013). The TKI assesses a person’s behavior when they are confronted with a conflict situation. For their work Thomas & Kilmann define conflict as any situation when the concerns of two people appear to be incompatible (Thomas & Kilmann, 1974). According to the TKI when a person is in a conflict situation their behavior will go along two dimensions. The first dimension, on the y axis, is assertiveness, a person’s attempt to
Conflict is defined as the perception of incompatible goals or actions between two people (McCornack, 2013). How you approach these tense situations greatly affects the outcome of the conflict and your interpersonal relationships. Everyone experiences disagreement at some point in their lives and it is important to know what you bring to conflict situations in order to become a more competent communicator. Therefore, I completed the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Questionnaire and asked my sister and boyfriend to do the same regarding my conflict style (Introduction to Interpersonal Communication Course Workbook, 2013, p.29-31). I chose these two people to fill out the questionnaire because they both know me very well in two different types
There are four distinct conflict styles which are the levels of assertiveness and cooperativeness that are employed by a person in a conflict situation. Everyone has their own individual conflict style; my own style tends to be accommodating. This means that I am not very assertive and I am very good at cooperating with those I am in conflict with. In this essay I will examine each conflict style and my own choice of style and why I tend to default to this style. I will also examine whether or not my choice of the accommodating style is the best approach to resolving conflict, and discuss the advantages of learning to use each of the styles in specific situations.